SEE PAGE 4 for first homicide in the year (villa parke shooting)
Pasadena Press
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2015 - FEBRUARY 8, 2015
pasadenapress.com
Mother’s Phone Call Ends Suspect’s 7-Hour Standoff with Police By Terry Miller
see page 3 for wildlife waystation animals need help VOLUME 2, NO. 5
A “Landmark” Ruling for Ranch-Style Neighborhoods? By NICK KIPLEY
tor of Finance - $105,840.93 2. Siobhan Foster, Director of Public Works - $109,425.39 In addition, there was a final paycheck for the pay cycle that included hours worked, auto/
City Hall was packed this past Monday night. Up on the four screens were pictures of the quaint California ranchstyle homes made popular in Southern California during the rabid suburbanization following World War II. Residents of the Lower Hastings Ranch neighborhood, as well as concerned neighbors from Glen Summer Road in the San Rafael neighborhood, in which these ranch-style homes can be found, flocked to the City Council meeting on Monday. Almost all of them wore stickers with block capitals reading, “STOP MANSIONIZATION NOW!” and demanded that their dreamland houses be left alone. Residents are in an uproar over a new trend where wealthy new people are moving into the old ranch-style homes, retrofitting them in a style that can only be described as very “Venice Beach,” or typified by the portfolio of Los Angeles-based architects Proto-Homes™. These houses are typified by their flat rooftops, use of tinted glass, exposed concrete walls, aluminum balconies, and infusion with “green,” flourishes such as exposed wood walls and other techno-minimalist aesthetics. And so long as the architect and contractor adheres to a formula that currently blankets all lots in non-hillside, non-historic Pasadena neighborhoods, it is perfectly legal to transform any
Please see page 3
Please see page 2
Henry Sinclair Hsieh, 20, was arrested Monday after holding Pasadena police at bay for 7 hours on Harkness Avenue. He is Charged with assault with a firearm. Bail is set at $50,000. – Photos by Terry Miller
Pasadena Police and SWAT officers were involved in a standoff Monday that began with an early morning report – an open 911 call -- of an armed robbery at an apartment complex at 70 N. Harkness opposite Pasadena City College. When police arrived, they knocked on the door and encountered a young male with a gun. He refused to step out and
the barricade began. At least four concussion grenades were deployed in an attempt to get the suspect to surrender. Police evacuated nearby residents and staged outside the Carl’s Jr. where Red Cross officials helped those temporarily displaced by the police activity. About seven hours later,
the individual surrendered after officers set up a phone call with his mother. The 911 call from a woman said she was robbed at gunpoint and locked in a room. The caller told police she fled from the location and was calling from a vehicle. A man was seen running Please see page 4
Pasadena Pays Out Severance for 2 Fired Employees The City of Pasadena has paid out severance packages which included six months of salary and six months of COBRA medical premiums to the two employees fired earlier this month in the wake of the $6.4 Million embezzlement scandal
that rocked the very foundation of Pasadena’s public trust in local government. Medical was based on the plan the individual was enrolled in at time of separation. Gross severance payments (before taxes) were: 1. Andrew Green, Direc-
2 | FEBRUARY 2, 2015 - FEBRUARY 8, 2015
Newcomers and Friends of San Gabriel Valley Invites Local Residents to Feb. Events Newcomers and Friends of San Gabriel Valley invites local residents in the San Gabriel Valley to join in their upcoming Feb. events. Newcomers’ meet-andgreet coffee and general meeting will be held on Feb. 4th, from 10 a.m. to noon, in Arcadia. The coffee is a great way to learn about the club’s fun activities. Anyone interested in joining the club is welcome to attend. It is a nice way to meet new people, keep busy, and make friends. A luncheon, followed by a speaker on women’s heart health, will be held on Feb. 11, in Pasadena. Also, a tour of an impressive Cuban Bakery will take place on Feb. 25.
Additionally, Newcomers and Friends of San Gabriel Valley will be celebrating their 50th Anniversary at a special brunch in March. Guests are invited to attend the coffee to be eligible to attend the luncheon, tour, and brunch. Other Newcomers’ activities include a Book discussion group, Day Trips, Gardens, Golf, Hiking, Lunch Bunch, Movies, Wine Tasting, Travel, and Games: Bridge, Bunco, Mah Jongg, Pinochle, Rummikub, Scrabble, etc. To learn more about Newcomers and Friends of San Gabriel Valley, visit them online athttp://www.sgvnewcomers.com or contact them at sgvnewcomers@yahoo.com.
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“Landmark” Ruling Continued from page 1
house you please into one of these iBoom abodes. “It looks like The Titanic attached to a bungalow,” one resident shouted during the meeting, getting a laugh even from members of Council. Residents are upset that the harmony of their idyllic suburban communities is being overrun with two-story boxes that don’t adhere in any way to what the rest of the neighborhood looks like. Over ten individual complaints were officially voiced, and many more rose from the audience out of turn. Fifty-year resident of Lower Hastings Ron Hubbard implored the council to treat this matter as they did the redevelopment of City Hall. “You maintained the architectural integrity of this building,” he said, “I would hope you would do the same with our community.” Arturo Leos, a now retired Pasadena City Firefighter of twenty-six years, took a similar stand before the council: “My dream when I moved here was that I could be a resident of [the] Lower Hastings [neighborhood]. Never in my dreams did I think this would happen. I used to take walks through here with my son when I would take him to nursery school and dream of living here. When I retired, I could have moved to the East End and bought a bigger house with a bigger lot, but it was my dream to live here. By working hard, and saving, and with the help of my wife, I accomplished my dream.” Councilmember Gene Masuda voiced his support for a moratorium on further development in the area. This was quickly followed by support from the rest of council. When a few slides of the new developments in question were showed to the council, Councilmember Terry Tornek said the houses looked “like a space ship or battleship from another planet fell from the sky.” “How does this happen?”
asked Councilmember Steve Madison, “It looks like a … like a machine-gun bunker or something.” Concilmember Margaret McAustin asked the residents, “Have you considered landmarking your neighborhood? Landmarking doesn’t come from the city. It’s a grassroots development. I know that’s how we did it in my neighborhood. One big lot redeveloped, and the next day we were out in the streets with petitions.” When a neighborhood is landmarked—like Bungalow Heaven for instance—all new potential developments or expansions in the area must adhere with the surrounding area. With landmarking, “people are allowed to modify yet the rhythm and the beauty and the consistency still remains,” said McAustin. After this suggestion, the crowd was immensely happy. Shouts of “Thank you!” and “I love Pasadena!” could be heard. A motion to study mansionization and neighborhood compatibility passed; however, the permanent moratorium on Lower Hastings was put off until February. “Do it now!” people shouted while council prepared their votes. In respect to this, the Mayor readdressed the council, asking if a study could be prepared regarding development standards in other non-historic, non-hillside neighborhoods: “Can you bring us this in February?” he quickly asked. “Yeah, Lower Hastings should be easy,” said Vincent P. Bertoni, Director of Planning and Community Development, “We can give options for the rest [of the city] but they’ll be more wide-ranging. Glen Summer seems small enough to handle too.” The crowd let out a small cheer and left en masse after the vote, presumably to go back home and begin preparing a petition to landmark their community.
FEBRUARY 2, 2015 - FEBRUARY 8, 2015 | 3
hlr media EDITORIAL jschlueter@hlrmedia.com Editor Jennifer Schlueter Publisher HLR Media Advertising advertising@hlrmedia.com
Correction In last week’s issue, we ran a photo of Mayor Bill Bogaard, which was incorrectly captioned with “Terry Tornek.” We apologize.
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Wildlife WayStation Animals Need Your Help Los Angeles’ Wildlife WayStation’s Wayke Up crowdfunding web campaign is well underway but also desperately in need of more help.. The WayStation founder-director, Martine Colette, calls this ”the start of a new chapter” in the history of the nationally regarded, non-profit, sanctuary dedicated to the rescue and rehab of wild and exotic wildlife situated in the Angeles National Forest. The WayStation is currently home to 450 animals, cared for by Colette, her staff, and her volunteers. The crowdfunding web campaign will be run via IndieGoGo, between December 14th, 2014 and February 10th, 2015.
Missing these days at the WayStation are the visitors and groups of children visiting from the LA area School Districts as part of the WayStation’s educational programs. Getting them back is the purpose of the Wayke Up campaign. Says Wayke Up hostess, actress-singer Nikki Reed (“Twilight”): “The campaign’s purpose is to raise money to renew the WayStation’s Conditional Use Permit (CUP) which has expired. The Permit allows the WayStation to be open for visitors and continue the all-imporPlease see page 4
– Photo by Terry Miller
Alhambra PRESS
Payout
ANAHEIM PRESS
Continued from page 1
Baldwin Park
Belmont Beacon Long Beach Office 3780 Kilroy Airport Way Suite 360 Long Beach, CA 90806 Ph. (562) 472-0071 Fx. (562) 689-0071
INDEPENDENT
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Pasadena Press
San Bernardino Press
Shioban Foster -Photo by Terry Miller
phone allowance and cash-outs for vacation, management time off and floating holiday hours. Gross payments for final paychecks were: 1. Andrew Green $27,876.652. Siobhan Foster - $33,198.21
Los Angeles Office 5701 South Eastern Avenue Suite 100 Los Angeles, CA 90040 Ph. (323) 727-1144 Fx. (323) 727-9198 www.heger-industrial.com Lic. #00814086
4 | FEBRUARY 2, 2015 - FEBRUARY 8, 2015
WayStation Needs Help Continued from page 3
tant educational outreach programs that can inspire the next generation of children to protect our wildlife and the environment. Reed also volunteers at animal shelters and works with the ASPCA. “Acquiring a conditional use permit is vital to our mission to once again share our home and vision with the world outside of Little Tujunga Canyon,” notes Colette. She created the Wildlife WayStation—”because there were no existing facilities to take care of wild and exotic animals” - in 1965, the first exotic sanctuary to be established
in the U.S. The WayStation was incorporated in 1976 and over the years has provided care and shelter to more than 76,000 animals, birds and reptiles. For many, it has been a lifelong home and many more have been returned, healthy, to a natural habitat, also part of the WayStation’s mission. “But this growing need results in a growing Waystation budget,” says Colette. “Fundraising becomes a necessity. We are supported solely through donations, bequests and sponsorship—nothing from either State or Government.” https://www.indiegogo.com/ projects/wayke-up -
Villa Parke Shooting in Pasadena Claims One Life: First Homicide of the Year One man was killed and another man seriously wounded after a shooting at Villa Parke in Pasadena Tuesday night. 52-year-old Rafael Martin Soto-Aguilar of Altadena was pronounced dead at the scene. The gunfire erupted at Marengo Avenue and Villa Street at around 10:30 p.m.
A man in his 30s later showed up at Huntington Hospital claiming he’d been shot in Villa Parke. This is the second shooting within a week in Pasadena. Last Wednesday there was a shooting in Washington Park where two men were critically wounded.
-Photo by Terry Miller
Standoff Continued from page 1
out of the building, located just north of Colorado Boulevard, Monday morning before going back inside, police said. The 20-year-old man surrendered after authorities contacted his mother, who arrived at the scene and spoke with her son by phone. Officers found a handgun inside the subject’s apartment, according to police. The suspect is identified as Henry Sinclair Hsieh, Asian male, 20 years of age, Pasa-
dena resident. He was arrested for assault with a firearm. Bail is set at $50,000. Suspect-Hsieh is currently on probation for a prior robbery arrest. The suspect was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. No injuries were reported. Operations at a nearby school were not affected by the police activity, according to authorities.
A Red Cross volunteer helps a family displaced by the actions of one young man Monday when police evacuated about 100 people for their safety. - Photo by Terry Miller